Hello! My name is Liz Staley and I’m a long-time user of Clip Studio Paint (I started using the program back when it was known as Manga Studio 4!). I was a beta-tester on the Manga Studio 5 program and for Clip Studio Paint, and I have written three books and several video courses about the program. Many of you probably know my name from those books, in fact. I write weekly posts on Graphixly.com and on CSP Tips, so be sure to come back every week to learn more Clip Studio Tips and Tricks from me!

I really enjoy drawing anthropomorphic characters of all types, from characters with animal ears to full on anthro animals! I find them fun and a great creative exercise, and these types of characters have a very wide appeal.

In this article we will cover the following topics:

Getting Ideas for Design

Tips for Designing Anthro Characters

Let’s start drawing!

Getting Ideas for Design

Anthropomorphism is when human characteristics and emotions are given to non-human entities such as animals or objects. In this example I’m going to focus on creating an anthro character with an animal as inspiration, but you can choose any non-human thing for your character - including food, vehicles, art supplies, or anything else you want to make a character from. 

There are some animals that are very popular for anthro art, such as foxes, rabbits, cats, dogs, wolves, bears, lions, mice, horses, tigers, and other beloved animals. However I wanted to do an animal that I haven’t seen done a lot! So, of course, we need to do some research and find reference images. 

First, I went to Pinterest and searched for “cool animals”, then scrolled down until I found one that I liked the look of. Be careful when doing this because there are a LOT of results that are AI in this day and age. Of course there’s nothing wrong with doing an anthro of a fantasy creature, but if you are looking for more reference images then you won’t be able to find any if the creature is an AI creation.

I found a picture of an aardwolf on Pinterest and was immediately inspired, so once I had my creature in mind I went to Google image search and searched for aardwolf. I did this in Google rather than Pinterest because I also wanted to read a little information on this animal.

This next step isn’t one that I usually write down, but for the sake of the example I decided to do that for this article! Once I figure out the thing that I want to anthropomorphize, it’s good to get some ideas of the recognizable characteristics of that animal or thing and then figure out how you can work them into your character. For the aardwolf, I wrote down the spiky mane, fluffy tail, big ears, and stripes. Then I got the idea that the mane could be turned into a mohawk or into a big fluffy collar on a coat. From there the idea to make this character into a “punk rock” look came to me. 

If you are doing an animal or thing that has tropes attached to it (i.e. foxes are sneaky tricksters, lions are noble, elephants have good memories, etc) you may want to add those into your plan to either incorporate into your character or to stay away from.

Drawing The Character

Next let’s think about how far we want to take the anthropomorphizing! Below I’ve drawn three different versions of an anthro head. The left one is basically a regular human head but with animal ears added to it. The center one has a bit more of the animal features to it, like an animal nose and markings, and moved the eyes slightly to make it closer to the proportions of the real aardwolf. The head on the right is basically fully animal, complete with a muzzle, but a human neck.

When doing an animal anthro you can also decide how much you want to stylize the hands and feet. Will your character have human hands? Human hands with paw pads? Or maybe full paws that are articulated like hands? You can also decide whether to have human legs and feet or animal legs and paws as well, it’s all up to you!

I decided to draw two different character designs, one more human and one more animal! With the more human design I tried to add the furry “mane” in with the collar of the coat and then emulate the leg markings of the Aardwolf with the long gloves. The design on the right takes a lot more of the animal characteristics, including paws for hands and feet. I also took the fur collar off the jacket and just added the spiked mane to the character instead. 

Once you practice, you can have fun with making anthro characters of all sorts of animals and objects. Try your favorite animal or an animal you’ve never heard of, your favorite food, a vehicle, or even a place! 

Conclusion

Drawing anthropomorphic characters can be a challenge at first, but just like with anything in art once you get some practice then it can also be a rewarding and fun experience. Make yourself stand out by creating anthro characters of animals or objects that most people wouldn’t think of doing! 

For more information on CLIP Studio Paint, please visit https://www.clipstudio.net/en or https://graphixly.com